From Brazil with Love: LEAD FOODS

Food is memory. It's the places we've been and the people we meet, a culmination of life experiences that tell the story of who we are. When we share those memories it’s more than sharing a recipe or a meal; we allow a piece of ourselves into the new space we’ve arrived at and invite others to see us for who we are. When Leonardo Barbosa hung two pieces of meat in the kitchen of a Calgary apartment to make the Brazilian carne seca, he opened a door to his past and created a foundation that was to become Lead Foods.

Leonardo and his wife Adriana are the people behind Lead Foods, the first commercial producers of carne seca in North America. Originally from Pernambuco, Brazil, the Barbosas moved to Canada in search of a better quality of life. Leonardo was an agronomist and Adriana a graphic designer. Their early days in Canada weren’t easy, with the couple working to learn and adapt while making a living for themselves in ways they hadn’t anticipated. Lead Foods was still way in their future.

Initially Adriana worked with her brother and Leonardo had a job bagging potatoes. In 2016 the couple faces serious challenges with their newborn son, born with Down Syndrome. “It was a huge blow to process that”, says Adriana. As they prepared for the birth of their son Oliver, Leonardo was faced with choosing between priorities: time with his pregnant wife or working. When he lost his job, Leonardo stayed home to care for their son while Adriana worked. It was not long after that Leonardo hung those two pieces of meat to make his family’s recipe for carne seca and bring a taste of Brazil to their new life.

Carne Seca originated out of necessity to preserve meat. It was a source of protein for sugar cane plantation workers, the working backbone of the country’s underrepresented industry. The overall process of preserving red meat is not unique and its origin is difficult to pinpoint as each country has its own method. Brazil had beef carne seca – a type of jerked, spiced beef. On leaving their home country, Leonardo missed the flavours and the memories they represented.

That kitchen trial was a success, with friend happily sampling he recipe and bolstering Leonardo's vision of bringing a taste of Brazil to their new Calgary home. But it would take more than a year before production of Carne Seca began. Recipe testing, analysis, and documentation were a few of the hurdles Leonardo needed to overcome for approval with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). “At the time, there was nothing similar to Carne Seca”, he says.

Lead Foods sold their first box of Carne Seca July 2018. “One problem getting it to market was developing the flavour,” says Leonardo. Striving to recreate the taste of his Brazilian youth was what pushed him to continue. “The Brazilian community grew up eating this. They want meat that tastes like what a grandmother or a mother made.” With the help of social media, wasn’t long before that first sale translated into inquiries from across Canada.

Leonardo and Adriana took Carne Seca to independent supermarkets that sold other Latin products and eventually they caught the eye of Sobeys. “As we became a strong brand within the Brazilian community in Canada and the United States, it was now time to reach the Canadian community,” says Leonardo. “Made in Alberta helps consumers identify products made literally next door to them.”

 

Lead Foods now produces and sells several tastes of Brazil including a feijoada kit, paio sausage, and calabrese sausage (mild or hot). The company is based in Calgary and employs about 12 employees. It’s an ideal fit for the Made in Alberta program, with alignment in locally made products of quality and a focus on supporting community-minded producers.

“I came here without English,” says Leonardo. “Today I’m registered with Alberta’s agronomist institute and have conversations with people in the Canadian and American governments.” Leonardo is a little overwhelmed by the support of their community. “For an immigrant who came here without knowing English, without knowing what he was going to do with his life, it’s a lot.”  He's grateful. And their son Oliver, the light of their lives, is another driving force behind why they do what they’ve been doing. Family is a key element to their company’s direction.

Their roster consists of their foundational Carne Seca, also known as Carque or Jabá, made (at Lead Foods) from Canadian beef in the Brazilian tradition of a dry salt process. Their paio sausage is a thick smoked sausage made from pork loin seasoned with garlic and spices, and the calabrese sausage – also pork loin – is cured and double smoked with red pepper flavours in a ‘mild’ (with hints of fennel and bacon) and hot version.

“We originally focused on serving the Brazilian community”, says Leonardo. “But since we got listed with Sobeys in their local program, we are also focusing on North Americans.” The feedback from in-store sampling of things like the Feijoada Kit has been in Leonardo’s words: phenomenal. “Feijoada is the national dish of Brazil, and we are the only company in North America to make it authentically.”

Like others in the Made in Alberta program, Leonardo and Adriana’s story is about reflecting on where they come from and working with the community they’re in. “When Albertans buy local, they are not only bringing prosperity to their communities but reducing costs and environmental impacts,” says Leonardo. They are still overwhelmed by the interest in what they’re doing, and it all came full-circle when their hometown news company – Journal do Commercio – published an article on the family in 2021. “Our story is about connection to our family memories through food.”

Lead Foods are distributed across Canada, in the United States, and sold through the company’s website. For those seeking an authentic taste of Brazil, Lead Foods can be found in more than 120 locations in North America – including at more than a dozen grocers in Calgary.